How do you guys kill the bacteria/algae in your cooling systems?

What chemicals do you guys use? And at what concentrations?

I know ethanol and ethylene glycol can inhibit the growth of bacteria and algae. What are the optimum concentrations for preformance / inhibition of growth???

I have heard of some people using a mild soap (window cleaner etc)

Anti-freeze works and as for ratio just put 1 part anti-freeze per 16 part water.

unperfumed uncolourer thin bleach works well for me, but whatever you use check that it is safe with the plastics/rubber on your setup.

I would not use bleach as it is very corrosive.
Check out CrazyPC or Frozen CPU or some other dist and look at water additives. You can buy algicide you add to distilled water or buy it premixed.

i use car cooling liquid and works just fine

depending on what concentration is made it can be used for cleaning the dirtest of metals to the finest silk, you yourself will be using it daily in toothpaste, shampoos, even foods such as bread.

Maybe someone can answer this for me... since algae requires sunlight (doesn't it?!?) to exist... why are most water tubes clear? Wouldn't solid black tubing reduce (if not eliminate) the growth of algae? Sure... you couldn't see bubbles in the loop, but other than that is there any reason why your tubing shouldn't be solid in color?

Great thought Dude however, algae forms can and do exist in what appears to be low-no visible light. This occurs because all living things in this world emit photons as a natural function or bioluminescence , although we cannot "see" the these photons with human eye perception.

just buy a bottle of cooling solution for water cooling setups or use anti freeze.

most colored liquids that come with water cooling setups are (if not the same) or pretty close to anti freeze used in cars. algae wont grow in that.

probably for the same reason that people put an acrylic window on their cases...

Exactly. That's what they use on swimming pools. I think chlorine (bleach), or even oxygenated water would do well. Maybe a little bit of both

Yep getting solid (non clear) tubes will inhibit the growth of algae.

However Bacteria and moulds dont need light to grow and now that your tubes arn't clear anymore how will you know when to clean out your wc system???

I have heard of pplz using iodine to kill bacteria but that stuff stains the tubes into a dark brown colour which makes your wc look like a $hit can.

I know that if the conc of the anit freeze is not high enough the bacteria start to use the ethylene glycol as food (you are basically adding carbon and nitrogen sources for them)
Also Anti freeze is not as effective at taking heat away heat from the water blocks as pure water is. So the more you add in the less effective your wc will be.

We have now started moving on to Tygon tubes that are impregnated with anti microbial agents such as silver. The tubes are clear in nature and just as flexable and soft as the old tygon Laboratory style tubes. The tubes are called Tygon Micorbore if anybody is interested. They are costly but I think its worth it considering you will not have to clean out your system for quite some time.

algecide works, also clean out the components before using them also helps


wash everything repeadily with vinegar

vinegar AKA acetic acid is acidic..... is acid bad for copper water blocks???

try a black light

d00d, you're NUTS. I used very clean tap water once because the manufacturer said it would be OK, and the trace amount of bleach started eating my aluminum reservoir! And it still grew algea!

If you used a dillute enough concentration to make it safe, it wouldn't be strong enough to prevent algea growth.

Thanx crash, that is what I suspected, and said in prev post, but did not have proof to follow up.

I found something that works and doesn't react with aluminum noticeably, it's the stuff they sell to keep humidifiers clean.

Thanks Rich...I break things so you don't have to!

Yea but they are not yours 8O !
Besides I break things too... but get yelled at for it.

The end of the world must be coming, seeing how many brain dead drones bumble around in here, I caught 2 within a few hours using a login of THG and THG admin, once I got the THG banned, he made the other...
and was posting site about site like he is part of operations.

No matter, they are IP banned, and sent a letter to his mother to slap that boy around much harder...

I've been using PrimoChill ICE as a lubricant in my watercooling system for several reasons:

1) It has lubricators that prevent shearing and help extend the life of all the parts in the system.
2) It has very good heat transfer properties
3) It is non conductive. 4) It has anti algae properties

I'm especially pleased with it's non conductivity advantages as, during experimentation of modded watercooling parts, there has been a leak or 2.

Different acids (or bases) react with different substances differently. You could probably wikipedia it on a "per acid" basis. My guess is that you should stay away from nitric acid though because it can dissolve otherwise unreactive metals like gold.
Of possible interest: many algaecides are copper ion solutions since heavy metals disrupt enzyme activity in living organisms. This copper ion could potentially react with other components, and not necessarily in a good way.

-mcg